Today, it doesn't matter if you grow food or purchase it, Ohio Farm Bureau invites you to work with your neighbors to enhance the quality of life in your community and the unique ways agriculture touches our lives.

OACP helps direct surplus and unmarketable commodity products such as overproduced and misshaped fruits and vegetables from agriculture producers to Ohio’s 12 regional Feeding America food banks. The program is funded by a grant from the Ohio General Assembly and administered by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

“The OACP is important to Ohio’s food banks because it provides some of the most wholesome, highly nutritious food available within the emergency food assistance network,” said Charles Barber, communications manager for the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks.

The idea for the program came from a conversation more than 15 years ago about how the farming community could help feed hungry Ohioans. OACP was started to provide wholesome and highly nutritious food for Ohioans, prevent food from being wasted and reduce losses for Ohio farmers.

Today OACP works with more than 100 farmers around the state to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to Ohio’s 12 Feeding America food banks. In state fiscal year 2010, OACP provided more than 24.6 million pounds of fresh produce to Ohioans at risk of hunger. The Ohio Food Purchase Program, the sister program to OACP that provides shelf-stable grocery items and protein-rich commodity items such as eggs and pork, contributed 8 million pounds of items with $12 million provided by the state legislature.

The amount of money that farmers receive depends on the commodity. Those who plant a crop are paid for picking, packing and transportation of their crop, Barber said.

“Before OACP, fields would have been plowed under,” he said. “Since the program began, farmers who are involved in the program can call with offers of excess fruits and vegetables they are unable to market through their regular channels. Throughout the growing season, if there is an overabundance of product in the field, due to weather and lulls in the market, OASHF is contacted with offers of these overabundances and items are moved to the food banks.”

With the economic downturn over the past couple of years, the demand within the food bank network has been high. From 2007 to 2010, on average each food bank within Ohio has seen an increase in need of more than 68 percent, Barber said.

“I continue to be amazed at the response from the farming community. They are providing the most nutritious food possible for people who may not have access to it otherwise. Not only are our farming partners feeling good about helping those in need, the program enables the farmers to also keep staff on longer and extend their operating hours,” he said.

The program has been so successful that other states have expressed interest in starting their own, including Kentucky and Wisconsin, which both are currently in the process of replicating Ohio’s program.

“To see the look on a child’s face that has never held a fresh piece of fruit speaks volumes to just how successful this program has become,” Barber said.

Ohio Farm Bureau Federation is a member of American Farm Bureau Federation®, a national organization of farmers and ranchers including Farm Bureau® organizations in 49 other states and Puerto Rico, and is responsible for Farm Bureau membership and programs within the State of Ohio. Ohio Farm Bureau Federation programs and services are available only to Farm Bureau members within Ohio. The political views expressed in these pages represent Ohio Farm Bureau Federation's positions on various issues as they relate to Ohio. The positions of the national Farm Bureau organization collectively are expressed through American Farm Bureau Federation. Any opinions, statements or views expressed through comments or by outside contributors are the express views of those individuals and do not necessarily represent the views of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.